


In My Life

by twelvemorestopsandhome



Category: The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 13:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelvemorestopsandhome/pseuds/twelvemorestopsandhome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt Fill of their life together between episode 7 and 8.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In My Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChelleLeigh1917](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleLeigh1917/gifts).



> chelleleigh1917 prompted: Anne and Richard’s life and marriage set between episode 7 and 8. This was originally very fluffy but I added a bit of drama because I couldn't resist. 
> 
> Mentions of canon deaths. 
> 
> I hope you approve!

They get to know each other all over again.

Anne learns that despite his knight training, Richard likes to stay in bed late, would happily lay there until noon, (insisting Anne did also, of course) until she would pry him out of bed with promises of breakfast that she would prepare herself.

Richard learns that Anne isn’t a naturally gifted cook.

 

He also learns that she hates to be idle when there is work to be done. And there is always work to be done. The castle itself requires frequent maintenance, the workers and townspeople often require attention as does the entire north which, for all intent and purpose, the king has put them in command of.

On many nights, they both sit in the study, maps, petitions and letters strewn over the large table, heads buried in the pile, feet catching underneath until one of them looks up and smiles. _Bed?_ Someone will suggest and all work is forgotten until tomorrow.

(On one particular occasion, Anne blushes furiously when she enters the study the next day, remembering how they didn’t  _quite_ it make it their room the night before when Richard had _helpfully_  offered to loosen the ties of her dress while she was finishing up her task.)

They talk. About everything. About her father and his. About their mothers. About Isabel and George. About the king. He tells her how striving for his mother’s approval almost tore him and brother’s apart and how the approval of  _her_ father reunited them. It is Anne who points out that that approval almost destroyed them not long ago.

She speaks of her time in Calais as Edward of Lancaster’s wife and Margaret of Anjou’s protege. She spares him certain details but she knows he finds her tone when speaking of the bad queen strange. She can’t help but admire her in a certain way, even feel sorry for her and she struggles to explain that to him. It causes a strain between them for a few days that they both pretend isn’t there.  _They are certain things that happened that you’ll never understand_ she tells him and it’s not cruel or accusing. It’s true.

He tells her that he loves her.

*

Anne enjoys being a mother far more than being with child. She hated being unable to do the simplest of tasks in the months leading up to giving birth. After her experience with Isabel, she was incredibly careful with herself and the child but by the time Edward was born she never wanted to see in the inside of her quarters again.

The king and queen send their congratulations with the king insisting he must meet his nephew soon. Neither of have any desire to go to court and decide on waiting until the king formally summons them.  _A boy and on her first try, you chose well son_ Duchess Cecily writes and Anne does not know how to take that. He’s a quiet but friendly baby. Anne awakes many night to find that the infant Edward has  _somehow_  found his way into the bed. _I didn’t want him to be lonely_ Richard whispers and Edward looks up at her with wide loving eyes.

He is slow to grow and is often poorly but the ladies of the household insist her will grown, that Anne is doing a wonderfully and not to worry.

*

Losing Isabel and George changes them both. Anne mourns her sister with dignity, never allows herself to cry in front of the household or the children. By the time night falls the pain in chest is almost cripplingly so Richard lets her cry herself to sleep, holding her tight, never saying a word, knowing there is nothing to say.

Anne speaks of Isabel often, telling Margaret and Teddy about their mother and the times they spent here, in this castle, of how much she loved them and how is looking down on them from heaven.

Richard doesn’t speak of George.

Teddy looks like a Neville and Margaret acts like a Plantagenet and Anne and Richard love them as if they were there own and Edward even refers to them as his brother and sister. Anne used to correct him at the start, but as time went on and no actual brothers or sister came she too would call them so from time to time.

“We have three children and you only had to go through childbirth once.” Richard jokes one afternoon as they watch the children play in the garden. “That’s very impressive, Anne.”

“Perhaps” Anne muses. “I just don’t understand how I could not…”

“I don’t pretend to know the details of a woman’s  _inner workings_  but please do not worry, we are both young and healthy and if God blesses us with more children then so be it but if not, I am more than happy with our family the way it is.” Richard assures her with a brief kiss to her temple.

“I am too” she nods, turning to the children who are now, as far as Anne can tell, organising a jousting tourney. “We are very lucky.”

*

Time passes as it tends to do and soon Anne can’t remember her life before this, wonders at her life, that it could be so content and  _perfect_ despite the trials and heartbreak they have both endured _._

They were made for this, they are both sure. Richard tells Anne so in his more sentimental moments late at night, That he couldn’t imagine his life without her, how it’s always been her, how he would have waited for her for however long it took. Anne laughs and teases that he is getting he is getting soft in his old age.

 They are still so young and have a lifetime together to look forward to.


End file.
